The open-air cinema functions in the Ex Convento del Carmen have become a safe option to enjoy the seventh art in times of pandemic.
Last night, Wednesday May 12, the building hosted the pre-premiere of the film "Los Lobos," with the presence of its director Samuel Kishi Leopo, as well as the presentation of the Diploma in History of Mexican Cinema given by the Jalisco Secretariat of Culture (SC) in coordination with the National Cinematheque.
Los Lobos is the second feature film by the director from Guadalajara and is about to be released on the commercial billboard. About 50 people, previously registered through a call on social networks, had the privilege of seeing the tape and listening to Samuel Kishi, in a talk in which he spoke about his beginnings in the cinema, his experience as a spectator, and his subsequent foray as a creator.
"Before being filmmakers, we are moviegoers," said Kishi Leopo, as he spoke of his first experiences with films by Stanley Kubrick or Paolo Pasolini as a teenager. Later, he explained, he began film studies at the University of Guadalajara, where in addition to reaffirming his passion for cinema, he met colleagues who would later be his collaborators, project partners, and life partners.
He also talked about how the national cinema of the 60s and 70s captivated him and showed him a new way of making movies. “I came across the new wave of Mexican cinema of filmmakers like Jorge Fons, Felipe Cazals, Arturo Ripstein, and that blew my mind. This is a little more like what I know from the street, it was not this super romanticized thing of the great sets and rancherías. And this generation of filmmakers caught my attention and I said I want to make that kind of cinema too, with that energy, with that vitality, and with that truth.”
After the talk, attendees enjoyed the movie "Los Lobos," a production of autobiographical overtones about a family that emigrated to the United States in search of a better life. The film will be released on June 10, so Samuel Kishi invited the public to attend the rooms since, he said, the programming of films like this in commercial theaters depends on the response of the public.
The history of cinema in Mexico
Before the pre-premiere of “Los Lobos,” the presentation of the Diploma in Mexican Film History was also held. It will be given for the first time in Jalisco, thanks to the collaboration between the National Cinemas and the SC through the Directorate of Cultural and Artistic Development and the Head of Audiovisual Arts.
Claudia Reyes Toledo, Director of Cultural and Artistic Development, pointed out that this diploma “is an opportunity to put together a high-quality program for the professionalization of the sector and the interested public, in a format that is already beginning to be very common, and that will allow us to open the possibility to participants from the ZMG and also from other municipalities in Jalisco.”
Therefore, a call will be launched by the SC to grant 10 scholarships to those interested in Guadalajara and its surroundings, and 20 for people who live in any of the municipalities in the interior of the State. In person It will take place at the House of Jalisco Culture, but it will also reach other regions of Jalisco through digital platforms.
For her part, Orianna Paz Esmoris, Deputy Director of the Cineteca Circuit of the National Cineteca, commented that the Diploma in Mexican Film History emerged in 2015 as a way to offer the public an experience beyond the theaters, to learn about some filmmaker in particular or on cinematographic trends. "It is very open to the general public, to all moviegoers who really want to continue learning from their passion."
The call and the academic program of the diploma will be published soon on the website of the Ministry of Culture, so those interested are invited to follow the publications on Social Networks of Culture Jalisco to access one of the 30 places that will be opened.